


and she smelled of lavender

by roseswilsons



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, I'll add more relationships as the story goes on, Originally Posted on Wattpad, but it may be spoilers so i wont yet, wanted to see if people liked it here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-19 17:44:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13709478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseswilsons/pseuds/roseswilsons
Summary: Estelle Wright was like lavender. She's everything good and bad rolled up in one. She always felt like danger and death seemed to follow her wherever she went. It was like something insidious, waiting in the shadows, picking apart her life to find the perfect moments to strike. Maybe it was just coincidence, maybe not, but whatever it was still scared her.But then again everything in the little town of Hawkins seemed to be shrouded in an ominous cloud of grey, so maybe there's a reason for her to be scared.





	1. the lingering dream

> ❝ _You better still hang out with me, that's all I'm saying. If you become friends with Tommy H, Carol, or Est-_ ❞
> 
> ❝ _Oh, that's gross!_ ❞

**_ESTELLE WOKE WITH A JOLT_** , disoriented and aching. Dark brown eyes surged open, fear hidden in the darkness of the night as they surveyed the ceiling of the room.  Her shoulders tensed and her breath quickened as she gathered her bearings, trying to remember the events of the night before and the dream - no, nightmare - that had woken her up. Oh god, it all seemed so real, so terrible. Everything felt fuzzy, like watching the one static channel that played on tv when there was no signal. If she were in the right mind, maybe she could've realized it was the same dream she's had for the past week.

From the light of the street lamp outside, Estelle turned her head, looking away from the ceiling to the walls of the surrounding room. She could faintly make out the outline of a poster hanging on the wall. It was some band she didn't care enough about to know their name. As she breathed in deeply it felt as though there was an elephant on her chest, pushing down, keeping her pinned to the bed. The weight was suffocating yet almost comforting, keeping her grounded to reality.

When had she gotten here? Why had she woken up? Why did she feel so  _cold?_

To her left, the bed shuffled and the elephant-like weight shifted a little bit off of her chest giving Estelle more room to breathe. Estelle quietly surveyed her surroundings, noting all she could see. With each passing minute her memory of the night before and where she currently was slowly came back. Pile of clothes in the corner? Check. The bitter scent of cologne and underlying lavender? All around her. Rarely used guitar lounging on the desk? That was there too.

Yeah, she knew  _exactly_  where she was.

With the speed of a snail, Estelle turned her head down to focus on the arm (not an elephant) wrapped around her middle. It moved, cuddling her closer to the warmth of the body lying next to her.

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she let them shift up the figure until she could make out the face of the man next to her in the dim glow of the street light just outside his window. Estelle bit her lip, slowly reaching her hand out to brush at the freckled face.

Tommy shifted next to her, still stuck in a deep sleep, as he mumbled softly in his dream. She swiped her thumb across the plethora of freckles, watching his chest rise and fall as soft breaths escaped his mouth.

Everything about this seemed wrong - nothing like it had been before. This was a common occurrence.

She didn't know why she had done it. Why she had gone to Tommy with her problems when he already had his own. But this dream was insidious, terrible, and repetitive; it had been slowly draining her each day. And yes, Estelle knew they were on a break,  _he_  knew that, but there they were. Her climbing through his window, and him letting her, greeting her despite how late at night it was. She hated that they did this. It was fun, but that didn't seem to matter; it just didn't feel right anymore. Tommy could be bearable at times, a good enough guy to want to keep around, but their last quarrel a few days before made her come to a realization that maybe she didn't want to keep doing this anymore.  _This_  being a terrible, never-ending cycle of 'I hate you' and 'it's okay, we're still good. I love you'.

With a frown, her eyes flickered over to the clock resting on Tommy's nightstand next to her. It glared at her in a bright angry red as if it were chastising her for being awake this late.

 _Three o'clock_.

In a few hours they'd have to get up and go to school like they hadn't just done this, like nothing was wrong. She couldn't keep doing this.

Estelle felt herself drowning deeper and deeper, shifting her body so she could fully face Tommy's prone form. The pillow beneath her head gave a soft sigh as she rested her head back on it, the scent of lavender wafting up, invading her senses. She pulled her hand back, letting it slip down his face until it fell under the covers and away from Tommy.

Watching him now she could almost forget how unbearable he tended to be during the day. Almost. But she knew.

In the morning, they'd go back to school. She'd smile and greet Carol, maybe gossip a bit and then meet up with Steve and his new girl, Nancy. Tommy would probably make a lewd joke about their new addition to the group, and Estelle would lightly punch him to stop.

It was a normal routine, but this didn't feel normal anymore. Everything was changing and she didn't know how to stop it.

She didn't want to think about it anymore. Nothing felt right at the moment. With a sigh, Estelle waited for the feeling of uneasiness to falter, the last remnants of her dream easing from her body and out of mind for the moment. With a last lingering look to a small patch of freckles that adorned Tommy's nose Estelle felt her eyes slip shut just as the street light outside of Tommy's room began to flicker.

____

It was a quiet morning, and the entire ride to school was filled with only the sound from her car stereo and the steady beat she tapped on to her wheel. The tension in her car was so thick to her it was almost palpable, but Tommy seemed oblivious to that fact. Usually he'd complain when Estelle offered to drive him to school (something about his fragile masculinity? She didn't really know because all she really heard were excuses) but today was different when he didn't even complain. It was so opposite to what she was expecting, Estelle hadn't been able to contain her surprise when he slid into the passenger seat of her beat up sedan.

Estelle feel her eyes droop as she drove, exhausted from the night before. It felt like she had slept so well next to Tommy, but whatever had woken her up, whatever that dream she had was, it kept her mind running a thousand miles a minute. So lost in her thoughts, she hadn't realized that neither of them had spoken the entire ride until they had passed the middle school. As Estelle was pulling into the high school parking lot, out of the corner of her eye she could see Tommy glancing over at her.

Tommy cleared his throat.

"I know last night was... I don't know. Good? I mean - we're good right, Stell? Us together?" His voice came out scratchy.

Estelle didn't speak, instead ignoring the blatant use of his nickname for her as she tried to focus on pulling into the closest spot she could find. The parking lot was swarming with kids, each oblivious to the fact that a car was trying to get through. Instead of an answer she turned and gave Tommy a small smile, a way to say that everything between them was okay. Even if it wasn't. As she stopped the car, taking the key out of the ignition, Tommy caught her wrist.

"We good?" He asked again.

She turned her head to face him fully, watching his face slowly morph between a constant state of worried and elated.

"Yeah, yeah. I promise we're still good together," she said as she huffed out a laugh.

"Good."

The uneasiness melted from his body, and what was left was a small smile, reserved for her and her eyes only. He leaned in for a kiss, and Estelle obliged, meeting him halfway over her center console. His chapped lips met hers, and maybe, just maybe it felt like things could be alright again in her head. Tommy pulled back, a cocky smirk plastered on his face, the one seen by many all day, every day. Estelle felt frozen in place.

He grabbed his bag from the floor of her car, opening his side to let in the chilly air. "Ready to go?"

Estelle blinked, unfreezing as she reached for her bag from the back seat. As she clumsily got out of the drivers side, she looked over to Tommy who was still watching her with that damn smile.

She let a smile of her own cover her features as she spoke. "I can't believe you let me drive today without you having to bitch and moan the entire ride. This is a first."

Tommy let out a small groan, rolling his eyes. "It's a one-time thing, babe. Next time, I drive."

"Sure, sure," she said as she locked her car.

Estelle walked over to where Tommy was waiting, leaning into him as he wrapped an arm around her waist. As they made their way toward Hawkins High School, he started to talk again, about how he was serious that she wouldn't be driving him again because he needed his own car, and he was going to get one. He didn't want to look like a little bitch riding in the passenger seat of his girlfriend's car.

Sure, she thought, half paying attention to him. Everybody had their dreams, and apparently that was his. Well, that and antagonizing people all day long.

She nodded along with his ranting, letting him guide her into the warmth of the hallways towards their usual spot just in front of their little cluster of lockers. Her thoughts ran rampant about how odd she had felt earlier that day: the awful coldness in his room, the disoriented feelings, and the terrible dream she must've had to have her wake up in such a state. But what was the dream?

Estelle unfurled herself from Tommy's grip, pushing the thoughts of the dream out of mind as she greeted Carol with a smile, turning to open her locker. It was mostly filled with crumpled up homework assignments that she had gotten back from earlier in the year. It's not that she didn't need them, Estelle just didn't know what to do with them. So there they lay among a couple of textbooks and tampons, showing off their bold grades in the top corner of each paper. Unzipping her backpack, she haphazardly shoved her little sac lunch she had made from the random assortment of food in Tommy's fridge. It was her fault and she had to deal with what she was given. It didn't matter too much so Estelle quickly grabbed her Anatomy textbook and slammed the door shut, bringing her attention back to Carol and Tommy's conversation.

Carol popped her gum loudly, chewing as she continued telling her story. "...Oh my god. Let me tell you that Nancy chick has a stick up her ass. Sophomore year and she's done nothing fun. I don't know what Steve sees in her. Clearly there are plenty of other fish in the sea. I mean ones that are his age, you know?"

Tommy gave Carol a sharp grin the same time Estelle sent a small frown her way. "Well, she's definitely a catch. The little Wheeler slut has got some things going for her."

Estelle scoffed, elbowing him sharp in the ribs. "Tommy!"

"Don't worry, babe. You're still my girl," he said as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder again.

"Tommy, that's not what I meant."

Tommy laughed out a quiet 'still' under his breath as Carol watched the two with amusement. Her cold eyes shone with a feverish delight that appeared whenever she was making fun of someone. It kind of freaked Estelle out, but by now she was used to their terrible antics. She tried not to participate in their jokes and teasing, yet just being a part of their group made her seem like an automatic asshole like the rest of them.

"On the subject of Steve, where'd her run off to?" Estelle asked, her eyes searching the hall for the styled mop of brown hair that belonged to a one Steve Harrington.

Carol rolled her eyes. "Were you not paying attention, Estelle?"

"No, sorry I was think-"

"Seriously, you were here the whole time," she finished.

When Estelle didn't speak, Carol continued on: "Our little lover boy left a note in his  _girlfriend's_ locker and they're probably off making out in a bathroom somewhere."

As she spoke, her chest began to ache a little. Estelle didn't know why, but the thought of Steve and Nancy off together made her feel off. She was usually okay with the two of them, especially when they were hanging out as a group. Maybe she just wasn't used to the idea yet. It still seemed weird.

She shoved the rising feelings down her throat so she no longer felt like the emotions were choking her slowly. It was terrible and sudden. She hated it. Feelings made her want to yell at the sky and say 'thanks! I hate it; please take it back!' Instead of replying to Carol, Estelle turned to her boyfriend, a smirk forming on her face.

"Hey, why do you never do that to me?" Estelle gave Tommy an affronted look, her voice dripping with mockery. "I'd love to have a note in my locker telling me to go make out with you during school!"

Tommy laughed. "That can always be arranged. We can make fourth period our new make out time!"

Before Estelle could make a snide remark to his comment, the shrill sound of the bell overhead drowned out all noise in the hall. The bustle of the hallway grew louder, drowning out any chance they had left to talk and gossip. Their day had officially begun.

Estelle's eyes widened. Shit. "Shit, Erickson will kill me if I'm late to his class again. I've gotta go guys. That man has had it out for me since the first day of school."

Carol shrugged. "So what's another detention?"

Estelle gave her a flat look. "Another two hours I do not want to spend at school. I'll see you at lunch okay?"

"That's fair. See you later, babe." Tommy removed his arm from her side, giving her a kiss on the mouth as he did so, his chapped lips scratching her own.

With a small 'yeah, see you later' and slight wave, Estelle walked off silently, hugging her textbook tightly to her chest, the lingering feeling of Tommy's lips haunting her own just like the dream. Kids shoved passed her, mostly freshmen running to get to their first period despite the amount of time left in the passing period. And who's to say she didn't give the girl's bathroom a small glance, slowing her walk as she passed by. She didn't know how she felt, but it was odd.

She shuffled on, mood fouled by the thought of school and the lingering shadow of her dream, the memory just out of reach. It didn't matter; it was probably nothing. By the end of the day it would go away and everything would feel normal again. Well, as normal as it could be.


	2. the night shifts

> ❝ _Was this your plan all along? To- to get in my room and then - get another notch on your belt._ ❞
> 
> ❝ _No. Nancy, no._ ❞

**_WITH SHAKING HANDS, ESTELLE PULLED_**  her keys from the warmth of her jacket pocket and maneuvered them so the teeth stuck in the keyhole of the door on her beat-up car. She muttered to herself, cursing the teacher that decided to give their class at least two hours of notes. The pile of homework waiting for her at home just seemed to keep growing no matter how much she completed. It was going to be another sleepless and Tommy-less night for her - there was simply not enough time in the world to relax.

Work was starting to kill her, just adding to the weight of her responsibilities. Go home, drop her bag off, change into her movie theater uniform, and head off to work until late. At least now, after hours of droning on subjects that maybe could be interesting if just anyone else was teaching it, her anxiety was more reality focus rather than stupid nightmares that a girl her age should never get anyway. She was right because, at the end of the day, she was doing a little better.

Just as she twisted her key in the lock, a distant voice yelled from across the parking lot. "Hey, Estelle! Wait up, will you?"

Estelle jolted in her spot, shoulder tensing as she turned to see who had called her name. All she wanted was to go home for at least a little bit before she had to go back and do things. Of course, he wouldn't let her.

The figure that had called her name got closer, silhouette becoming clearer as he approached her car. Steve gave Estelle a sharp grin, eyes no doubt glinting wildly behind his dark sunglasses. He was a man with a plan and she could see that as he strode towards her, not caring who he pushed past.

A small smile melted onto her face as he stopped right in front of her. "Steve? Hey, what's up? We didn't see you all day today."

"Nothing much, Estelle. I just needed to ask you something before you went back home."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "You could've called me when I got home or when I got to work. I really gotta get going, you know..."

"I'd actually prefer to talk to you now, you know," he quickly replied. "So will you answer a question for me?"

Estelle hesitated, eyes focused on Steve, observing his pleading look for a few seconds. After debating whether or not she should stay and waste her precious hour before work, she decided maybe Steve had something important to ask. She gave him a little nod. "Okay, shoot."

"So I'm seeing Nancy tonight, but she says it's just to study..." he started, trailing off only to add on when he saw Estelle's blank, uninterested stare. He cleared his throat. "So is it just to study?"

"You're the playboy, you should know this."

"I know!" he exclaimed. "But it's different with Nancy; I'm just not sure."

Estelle gave a scoff hoping it sounded more like a laugh to Steve. She shook her head. "It's Nancy which means it's definitely just to study."

"Should I do something else?" he asked. "I mean, I'm already sneaking into her room to help her."

"Nothing's gonna happen, Steve. Trust me, she'll love you a lot more if you really do help her study. Relationships aren't always about sex and making out, you know." Estelle stated as she unlocked her car all the way, driving the car door in between the two.

Steve took her response in stride, leaning on the car door as he watched Estelle lean into her car to place her schoolwork and backpack on the passenger seat. "Hah. You should tell that to Tommy."

"Our relationship isn't just sex, Steve!" She replied, not bothering to look over at him.

"Sure, sure..." he trailed off. "Well, anyway, thank you so much for the help. I really appreciate your opinion on this."

The smile on her face felt forced as she finally made to get out of her previous position. As she looked Steve in the eye, his cool and composed posture seemed a little stiff against her car door.

"Anything for a friend."

Estelle didn't pay any mind to the hint of bitterness she felt in the pit of her stomach because it didn't matter. It was only Steve and his little fling after all. "Go woo your little girlfriend tonight. She'll be all over you, and your  _kingliness_. Maybe she'll even kiss you!"

He gave her a toothy grin and leaned over the car door, ignoring the cautionary squeak it gave under his weight as though it were threatening to fall off right then and there, to plant a chaste kiss on her forehead. "You're a goddess, Estelle."

She smiled. "I know." Estelle watched as Steve shifted his backpack higher on his shoulder and turned away from her, walking with a weird, giddy spring to his step that almost made it seem like he was skipping. She just couldn't help herself and yelled after him one last time "And stop leaning on my car door it's gonna break one day and you'll be the one that has to fix it!"

She watched him flip her the bird over his shoulder, an obvious smile still playing on his lips as he walked back over to his little girlfriend who stood awkward and cold in the front of the school. Estelle sighed, shaking her head as she finally sat down in her car ready to get out of the chilly afternoon air and away from school.

____

The thing about having a job in a small town like Hawkins was the fact that it was never crowded. Now, that was both a good and a bad thing. It meant more time to do homework and catch up on everything she's missed. Despite who she hangs out with, Estelle prides herself on her grades and hates getting in trouble often - a complete one-eighty compared to her boyfriend and Carol. The bad part about never being busy was the constant introspection Estelle could put herself through to stave off the boredom as she sat at the concessions counter of the movie theater, watching the one or two stragglers that decided to go see a movie in the middle of the week.

Her hand had become a permanent stand to hold her head up as her eyes drooped farther and farther, close to being closed for the night. The clock on the wall only said it was ten o'clock which meant that she still had an hour left of her shift. Despite the new curfew, it's not like Estelle could suddenly just drop her job. All her other coworkers had decided that tonight wouldn't be busy enough - ergo worth enough - to actually risk being out at night. She needed the money, but more importantly, her mother did.

Despite the wishes of Abigail Wright, her mother, Estelle still worked just as hard and as long as she had the previous year when she first got her job at the movie theater. It was the curfew that scared her mother. It was the fact that now, in a town where owl attacks were usually the worst thing to happen, there are kids going missing. Well, one kid. And it hadn't been that long since he had gone missing. The Hawkins police had issued a formal missing report, telling the citizens of their town that a search party was to commence the next day in search of the boy. It freaked her mother out that this was happening now, but it wasn't enough for Estelle to want to sacrifice their lives.

Estelle sighed, noting the glare of each passing car through the window, the darkness of the night momentarily lighting up and then dimming back down. There was no work to be done, no one coming in for one last movie. There was just a little while longer before she could just go home and sleep in her warm bed.

The clock ticked from across the room, and she turned her eyes to stare at it. A minute passed by, and then another, and then ten more. The room around her felt like it was growing colder with each minute as stared at the clock on the wall, and as she looked down, Estelle could suddenly see her breath coming out in a small puff of smoke. She wrapped her hands around her arms and began rubbing them up and down to get rid of the quick forming goosebumps that littered her body.

 _Huh,_  she thought.  _Maybe Ethan turned the thermometer down in the lobby._

She wiped her hands on her pants, warming her palms as she made her way from behind the counter toward the wall that held the thermostat. With each step, the air around her seemed to drop a degree as the lights began to dim from up above. It was weird.

As Estelle got close to the thermostat, she squinted at the little screen, hoping to discern what the number was saying. If Ethan really had set it to sixty degrees, they would need to have a talk about not freezing his employees to save a little bit of money. A small gasp escaped her mouth as she saw the temperature was the same 70 degrees as always.

Weird.

She felt her hand moving slowly, hoping that maybe if she increased the temperature, this place wouldn't be so cold, but she stopped halfway there. A low sounding growl appeared from behind her, making all the hairs on her body stand out of fear. It could just be a dog. Yeah, a feral dog that somehow made its way into the theater, past doors that were shut tight and no people to let it in. A lump formed in her throat and she squeezed her eyes shut when the growling emitted again only this time it was followed by a scream.

Estelle turned quickly, the familiar scenery of the movie theater lobby morphing into a dark, dirty version of what looked to be a pool. Vines covered the ground making it impossible to step in any direction without stepping on one of them. There was no person or thing around. Nothing to have made that harsh sound, or that ear-shattering scream. The air around her looked dirty, and from the faint light of the house that stood just on the other side of the emptied pool, Estelle could see little particles of  _something_ floating everywhere.

The stillness seemed unnatural, cold. It was everything so familiar yet so different; it was wrong. Estelle bit her lip, cautiously stepping forward and away from the now non-existent wall and toward the pool. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, crossed in a defensive position.

Her feet stopped in their tracks when Estelle heard a whimper, almost ready to be a scream coming from inside the pool. She waited, holding her breath as she heard nothing for another moment before the whimper happened again, but this time accompanied by a faint word.

A hand reached out of the pool, hoping to grasp on anything that could pull it up and out of the dirty, infested pool. The mumbling and whimpering seemed to come from it as it tried to pull itself out. Estelle took an alarmed step back as she watched the figure.

Short red hair showed up first, and then a glasses framed face that seemed too terrified for its own good. She kept saying something that Estelle couldn't hear until the girl's face was entirely free. Barbara. She could only muster one word: "Nancy."

"What?" Estelle called.

"Nancy."

Estelle reached out, hoping to grab the girl, but just as their hands were about to touch, the growling sound came back. Barbara disappeared back into the pool like she had fallen, and Estelle watched utterly helpless, paralyzed with fear. The side of the pool where Barbara had been trying to climb out, climb  _away_ , was suddenly occupied again but this time by a much larger, looming figure.

It let out a deep growl again, the sound vibrating through her chest. Her feet backed away slowly until she couldn't go back anymore, watching as this thing pulled itself out of the empty pool. It was monstrous - the stuff of nightmares. Her nightmares. Its head dripped with goo or blood, or a mix of both and its face wasn't normal like a person's. The talon-like hands swiped the area around it, dripping with what was probably Barbara's blood.

She forgot how to breathe staring at this nightmare, watching as it suddenly noticed her standing there with her back firm against a tree trunk. It growled again, this time the sound aimed at her and her alone. Whatever this thing was, it was going to kill her right then and there.

It made no sense! She was just at work. She didn't know how she got here, but she wanted to go home. She wanted her mother, her boyfriend, her... Steve. Everyone in her life to come and save her or comfort her. Estelle hated this feeling of being trapped with nowhere to go.

Her versus the monster. Estelle versus herself. No escape now.

The thing moved closer to her, it's body moving terribly slow like a zombie. It was as if it was trying to scare her, to drag out the fear she felt. Estelle had a terrible feeling in the pit of her gut that felt this thing could move fast when it wanted to catch its prey. Now it was just teasing her, letting her fester.

She could swear, that beneath the terrified thrumming in her ears, and the pulsating sound of her own heart pounding in her chest, she could hear her name ever so faint. It sounded like Barbara at first, her shrill voice that had previously yelled for her best friend Nancy, now yelling Estelle's own. But it couldn't be. Despite the fact that she had disappeared into the pool, it sounded like Barbara was trying to reemerge for one last try or die. But then it morphed into something scratchier, older, deeper.

The monster stepped closer, officially cornering Estelle against the tree with nowhere to go and nothing to do as she watched this giant creature creep up to her, mouth splayed open so she could see its many rows of teeth just ready to sink into her skin. Five steps away.

_Estelle._

Four steps.

_Wake up._

Three.

_Estelle, honey?_

Two. One.

_Estelle!_

It lashed out, grabbing Estelle by the shoulder, mouth already closing as Estelle tried to move but found she couldn't. All she could do was scream. The feeling of the hand on her shoulder jolted her awake, and back into the real world. The harsh lights from the theater lobby made her squint as she gazed around wildly, trying to get some grasp on reality.

"Estelle! Estelle!" A voice called from her side. Estelle jumped whipping to her left only to find herself face to face with her boss Ethan.

Estelle ignored the trickle of sweat she could feel rolling down her uniform shirt. Her voice was shakier than she'd have liked it to be. "Huh? What?"

"Your shift ended five minutes ago but you were sleeping."

Estelle rubbed her bleary eyes, glancing at the clock on the wall to confirm that it really was five minutes past. "Oh, thanks for telling me, Ethan."

Ethan was a short man, not too much taller than Estelle herself, but he was a lot bigger. He was stout, with hands that were worn from age and work; he looked like he could kill someone with his bare hands except for the fact that he was a huge softy. It all stopped at his face. He had a kind face with years of wrinkles from smiling and laughing often. He was also her boss, but for some reason he didn't seem to mind he had just found her dozing off at the concessions stand at 11 at night.

He gave her a kind smile, his hand running through her hair in a soothing manner. "Go home and get some sleep. It looks like you could desperately need it."

"Are you sure?" Estelle asked, skeptical. It was late but not late enough for her to actually need to go home. "I'm supposed to stay until closing..."

"I may be old, but this is my theater. I've done this plenty of times before." Ethan smiled as she nodded along to his word, and moved his hands from where they ran through her hair to pat her on the head lightly, a gesture he always did to her in times of comfort.

A tired smile filled her face as she stretched, back popping in a few different spots, sore from the position she had previously been in for the better part of an hour. "Okay, okay. See you tomorrow."

She didn't mention the dream to Ethan. Could she even call it a dream? It didn't feel the same like before. The other ones felt like she was just watching these terrible things happen from behind a tv screen; it felt fake, staged, like a horror movie. The one she just experienced felt more visceral, more terrifying. Something was coming, but she just didn't know what. Estelle grabbed her purse from behind the counter, giving Ethan another tired good-bye before she made her way out the door and into the crisp night air.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked this. I haven't posted anything on here in awhile (and the stuff I did have posted was deleted). I wanted to see the response from here and to know if I should keep it up on this site as well...
> 
> As I said before this was posted on Wattpad originally. It has more than one part, it's a current work in progress but I have a few other chapters previously written so this isn't just it.


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